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Five myths about Metro Washington Post 1. Metro would be better if it were privatized. Metro had a bad year. In January, a passenger died after she and hundreds of others were stranded aboard a smoke-filled train near L'Enfant Plaza. Metro underwent two days of hearings before the National ... and more »

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Helicopter, 'flash bangs' part of police training in Manassas Inside NoVA Prince William police will be conducting tactical training this afternoon at Manassas Regional Airport, Jiffy Lube Live and the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. The exercise involves a helicopter and flash distraction devices, said Prince ... and more »

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7-story tower going up at Manassas Park City Center PotomacLocal.com The new mixed-use development will contain a mix of apartments and commercial real estate. The tower will be located behind the City Center complex at Manassas Drive and Market Street, across from City Hall. This is the newest development in City ...

It’s one thing for a retailer to screw up an order because it changed the customer’s payment method, or because someone in customer service was misinformed. But when that retailer is given weeks of advance notice and still manages to leave that customer empty-handed, there’s no excuse.

THE TL;DR VERSION

• Tracy pre-ordered the special $125 “Pip-Boy” edition Fallout 4 in June using her Target REDcard.
• After Target subsequently reissued all REDcards with new numbers, Tracy tried to update her payment info but was not allowed.
• A Target rep said her order “should” go through but couldn’t explain how.
• Weeks for the game’s release Consumerist asked Target to clarify. The retailer said it was “looking into it.”
• On Nov. 5, a Target rep told Tracy her order would be fine.
• Then she learned her order had been cancelled, supposedly at her request.
• Others complain of a similar ordeal involving the REDcard and Target pre-orders.
• Target assures Tracy once again that her order is not canceled and the other reports of cancellations are a “glitch.”
• Nov. 10 comes and goes, no Fallout, and Target stops responding to Tracy.
• A Target rep tells Consumerist this could all have been avoided if customers didn’t use cards that were going to expire, completely overlooking the fact that these cards didn’t expire — Target chose to replace them on its own.

Let’s flash back to June, when Consumerist reader Tracy jumped at pre-ordering a $125 special “Pip-Boy” edition of Fallout 4 from Target, using her Target REDcard to secure the transaction in advance of its Nov. 10 release date.

Yet, here it is, the morning of Nov. 20, and Tracy still hadn’t received the game she ordered, because Target issued her a new REDcard — but never let her update her payment information.

A Matter Of Bad Timing

Target, in an effort to be compliant with new credit card security measures, recently replaced customers’ REDcards with ones using new chip-and-PIN technology. After Tracy received hers, she contacted the retailer to update the payment information for her Fallout pre-order.

Since her card would not actually be charged until the order shipped, it shouldn’t have been a problem to change it a month before the game’s ship date, she figured. In fact, Target had sent customers like Tracy a letter instructing them to change their card info for “any automatic or recurring transactions.” Tracy assumed that a pre-order fell into this category.

But when she contacted Target customer service, she says she was informed that payment methods can’t be changed at all, for security reasons.

The only solution offered? To cancel the order and place a new one, which would’ve been impossible, as the special edition of the game had been sold out for months.

Tracy spoke to another Target rep who assured her that so long as funds were available in her account, the pre-order “should” go through. The rep made no promises, and couldn’t explain how having the old card number associated with the order would allow the transaction to go through, beyond saying that, “Target knows you got a new card.”

Not confident that she was getting a straight answer, Tracy contacted Consumerist, and we reached out to Target — still weeks ahead of the Nov. 10 release — to see if the retailer would clarify whether or not Tracy and others in her situation would receive their pre-ordered games.

At the time, the company wouldn’t say one way or the other, but told us they were “looking into it.”

Then, five days before Fallout began occupying every waking hour of millions of fans, Tracy spoke with a third Target rep. This one assured her that her order wouldn’t be canceled, and that she was working with the vendor to help her and others get their items in case that their orders were canceled, but couldn’t explain how that would happen.

Soon after, Tracy received an email that her order had been canceled… at her request.

“Obviously, I did not request this,” Tracy says about the cancellation, so she called the customer service back directly, and says she was told they were aware the order had been canceled, and that again, the rep was “working with the vendor.”

“Strangely, she now claims that the other people whose orders were cancelled was due to a ‘glitch’ and that my particular situation is unique,” Tracy notes.

She’s not alone. Just look at complaints on reddit like this thread and this one and you’ll see that others who pre-ordered using old REDcard numbers were similarly screwed.

Tracy tells Consumerist she tried to call the customer service rep back again, but since Nov. 9, the number she was given has either been busy or rings endlessly.

The release date has come and gone, and as of this morning, Tracy and others still didn’t have their orders. Nor did she have an e-mailed confirmation or tracking number for the item that was supposed to replace her canceled order, which she was promised by the rep who no longer answers her phone.

She did reach out to Bethesda Software, the game’s developer, and said that the company was trying to resolve her issue on that end.

“At this point, I have very little confidence that Target will make this right,” Tracy wrote. “I certainly hope that I’m wrong there, but it doesn’t seem like there will be any way to magic up copies of a game edition that is not even being manufactured any more.”

We got in touch with Target — again — asking for an update on the situation, and any advice for other customers experiencing the same issues as Tracy.

A spokeswoman told us that guest relations had been in touch with Tracy as of Thursday night with a tracking number for her order, and she should be receiving her item soon.

We’ve confirmed with Tracy that she not only got the tracking number, but she might as well forget any plans she had this weekend because her copy of Fallout arrived today. Though she notes that it shipped straight from Bethesda, rather than from Target.

When asked how a Target customer could avoid this sort of problem going forward, the rep somehow managed to put the burden and blame on the customer, saying that shoppers shouldn’t use a card that will expire before a product’s ship date. That’s all well and good, but it simply doesn’t apply in this case.

Remember, Tracy’s card wasn’t expiring. Target made a decision on its own to reissue these cards with new numbers. How could Tracy or other customers have possibly predicted that the retailer would choose to change up all of its payment cards in that particular five month window?

The spokeswoman apologized for the experience Tracy and others may have had with guest relations over payment issues, again calling the circumstances “unfortunate,” and said that anyone in the same boat should continue to reach out to via Target’s customer service — the same service that repeatedly provided Tracy with incorrect information and refused to reply to her after canceling her order.

“To the extent we’re able to, we’ve been attempting to work with them to provide resolution,” the rep tells Consumerist.

What Target needs to learn is that the best resolution is to not mess up in the first place.

You might expect people to be keen to purchase pie at this time of year, as our peak national pie-eating holiday approaches. Yet a pie fever is currently gripping the country: celebrity pie fever, as Walmart is suddenly unable to keep its new Patti LaBelle-branded sweet potato pie on the shelves.

Fortune magazine spoke to the Walmart executive responsible for the pie fever, Kinna Thomas, senior buyer for cakes and pies. Wanting to improve the chain’s desserts, she began the process of sending her family sweet potato pie recipe to its mass-baking suppliers to find the best pie.

It turns out that R&B star LaBelle is famous for her own sweet potato pie, and some of her flourishes were added to the Walmart version before it went into mass production.

The pie has been for sale nationwide since spring, but you probably haven’t noticed or heard about it. Then a combination of two things happened: fall began, Thanksgiving approached, and a much lesser-known singer than Patti LaBelle posted a video review on YouTube that became a viral sensation, turning the pie itself into a viral sensation.

Now the pies are mostly sold out, with people even flipping them on eBay.

The sweet potato pie project did exactly what it was supposed to for Walmart: got the word out that they have some high-quality bakery items. Maybe even high enough quality to draw middle- and upper-middle-class people who wouldn’t normally shop at Walmart into their stores.

How Patti LaBelle’s Sweet Potato Pie Craze Is Reinventing Walmart’s Bakery [Fortune]

A long-delayed four-year legal battle between Big Corn and Big Sugar has finally come to an end — not with a jury verdict, or with a judge throwing the case out, but with a confidential settlement that leaves a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.

Way back in 2011, in the midst of the corn industry’s failed attempt to rename “high fructose corn syrup” as simply “corn sugar,” some actual sugar refiners sued, alleging that the corn folks were engaging in false advertising by telling consumers that HFCS and sugar were equivalent.

“This suit is about false advertising, pure and simple,” the President and CEO of one plaintiff, the Western Sugar Cooperative, said at the time, claiming that the Corn Refiners Association was trying to “deceive people” and “distort scientific facts” about HFCS.

For fun, let’s take short break to revisit the folksy, corny goodness of those ads, like this one featuring a then-unknown actress Carrie Coon, now starring in HBO’s The Leftovers:

Anyway, this legal battle lingered on — much like an afternoon spent slowly strolling through the corn rows, pondering your fictional family’s health — even after the FDA decided in 2012 that no, HFCS could not be called “corn sugar,” mostly because that alternative name is already taken by good ol’ fashioned dextrose.

After being bombarded with, quite literally, hundreds of press releases and statements from both sides of this battle, we find out today that all this nasty public name-calling and conspiracy-alleging has been quietly settled, like many business matters, in a closed-door session with details that can’t be shared.

In a joint statement to the L.A. Times, both sides effectively admit that this was a pointless endeavor that should never have occurred:
“The Parties continue their commitments to practices that encourage safe and healthful use of their products, including moderation in the consumption of table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners.”

Ain’t that sweet…

The emission-scandal plot continues to thicken for Volkswagen and U.S. regulators. Nearly a month after the Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board accused the carmaker of including “defeat devices” in an additional 10,000 previously unreported vehicles, investigators for the agency say the number of cars is significantly higher. 

The EPA announced [PDF] Friday that during a meeting between the parties on Thursday, VW and Audi officials acknowledged that a November notice of violation extends to all 3.0-liter diesel engine vehicles from model years 2009 to 2016.

Regulators revealed on Nov. 2 that they had identified additional Clean Air Act violations in approximately 10,000 model year 2015-2016 VW Touareg, the 2014-2016 Porsche Cayenne, and the 2015-2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5.

The “sophisticated software algorithm” in the vehicles is programmed to detect when the car is undergoing official emissions testing, and to only turn on full emissions control systems – the temperature conditioning mode – during that testing.

The EPA and CARB said on Friday that they will “continue to investigate and will take all appropriate action.”

Shortly after the Nov. 2 violation order was announced, VW denied the allegations.

“It is a permissible software. What’s at issue here is clear: Does the U.S. want competition in the American market or not?” the spokesperson said at the time, noting the company would continue to sell the vehicles.

Days later, the company seemingly did a 180, issuing a stop-sale of new and certified pre-owned 3.0 liter, 6-cylinder models covered by the notice of violation.

The move marked the company’s second stop-sale since September when regulators accused VW of installing the so-called defeat devices on about 482,000 diesel vehicles since 2008.

Days later, the German carmaker admitted that nearly 11 million vehicles worldwide contained a “sophisticated software algorithm” programmed to detect when the car is undergoing official emissions testing, and to only turn on full emissions control systems – the temperature conditioning mode – during that testing.

If you still live in 2003 and have a Yahoo e-mail account but also use Ad Block to, ya know, block ads, then the folks at Yahoo might have a nasty surprise for you when you go to check your inbox.

Digiday, pointing to posts in the AdBlock Plus forums, reports that some Yahoo users have found they were unable to access their e-mail accounts because they were using ad-blocking plugins on their web browser.

This isn’t mere supposition or any sort of conspiracy theory. The on-screen message makes it clear in no uncertain terms that “We are unable to display Yahoo Mail. Please disable Ad Blocker to continue using Yahoo Mail.”

And the company confirmed to DSLreports.com that it is indeed barring some users from seeing their e-mails.

“At Yahoo, we are continually developing and testing new product experiences,” a Yahoo rep explains. “This is a test we’re running for a small number of Yahoo Mail users in the U.S.”

While we understand that billions of dollars are lost each year to blocked ads, we’re not sure if holding someone’s e-mails hostage is the best route to go for Yahoo, especially since the company can’t even get all of its own employees to use Yahoo Mail.

This sort of tactic also runs counter to the online ad industry’s recent admission that it had gotten overzealous during the last decade, resulting in an environment full of annoying, invasive ads that drive consumers to install ad blockers.

If you thought the airline losing your suitcase of souvenirs was rough, imagine if they lost a bag with your prosthetic leg. That’s apparently what happened for a professional dancer and Boston Marathon bombing victim traveling with American Airlines this week. 

The woman shared her story late Thursday evening by Tweeting to the airline asking for help in locating the bag containing her $250,000 dance-specific prosthetic leg, CBS Boston reports.

The airline replied shortly after saying they were on the case.

While the woman – who lost the lower part of her left leg in the April 2013 bombing – didn’t specifically say where she had been traveling, an update on Twitter showed that the bag was on quite a trip.

A rep. for the airline tells CBS Boston that the situation had been resolved.

“We’re terribly sorry we lost this bag and we’re working directly with the customer to get it back to her just as soon as possible,” a rep for the airline said. “We’re sorry this happened. Her bag has been located and we will reunite her with it as soon as possible.”

Marathon Bombing Survivor’s Missing Prosthetic Leg Found [CBS Boston]

We’ve written before about the overuse of antibiotics in turkeys and how it contributes to the development of drug-resistant bacteria, and some companies have pledged to cut down on the amount of unnecessary antibiotics they feed to their birds. But was the turkey you’re planning to carve up next Thursday raised using these and other potentially harmful drugs?

That’s the subject of a new report [PDF] from non-profit group Food Animal Concerns Trust, which looked at the nation’s largest turkey producers and their policies for antibiotics use and the feed additive ractopamine, which is allowed in the U.S. but banned in dozens of other countries around the world.

The FACT survey asked companies to provide information regarding three key issues. First, do they use medically important antibiotics for “disease prevention”? This is a common reason given by farmers to employ antibiotics, but many scientists believe that continual, low-dose prophylactic use of antibiotics only has the end result of further encouraging the development of drug-resistant pathogens.

The second question involves the use of antibiotics for growth-promotion. In 2013, the FDA asked drug companies to remove growth-promotion as an allowable use for their animal antibiotics. Of course, that doesn’t stop these drugs from continuing to work as growth-promoters; it just means the farmers have to change their reason for using the antibiotics to “disease prevention.”

Finally, there’s the issue of ractopamine, a lean-ness promoter used in the last stages of turkey farming that encourages muscle growth without additional fat. The drug can have possible ill effects on the wellness of the animals that receive it, and it has been banned in many other countries over concerns about the potential risk for heart problems in humans who eat meat from animals treated with ractopamine.

According to the report, only two of the large turkey companies — Tyson (Hillshire Farm), and Hain Pure Protein (Plainville Farms brand) — avoid the use of all antibiotics and ractopamine.

All of the others at least use antibiotics for disease prevention, though biggies like Cargill and Foster Farms claim to not use the drugs for growth-promotion.

When Cargill first announced its “no antibiotics for growth-promotion” policy in 2014 some industry watchers were skeptical that the company was merely paying lip service to the idea, as “disease prevention” use of antibiotics can be identical in terms of dose, duration, and prevalence to that of growth-promotion.

Similarly, Foster Farms — the poultry giant behind a massive outbreak of salmonella in 2013 — announced this past summer that it will eventually eliminate all medically important antibiotics from its birds, but was criticized for not providing a more specific timeline to reach that goal.

Probably the two most recognizable names in turkeys — Butterball and Perdue — use antibiotics for both preventing disease and to get bigger birds.

For the report, Perdue told FACT that around 1/5 of its turkeys are raised without any antibiotics at all and that the company is “committed to reducing antibiotic use in turkeys,” but that it’s “not as advanced in reducing antibiotic use in turkeys as we are in chickens.”

As for ractopamine, while only three producers are listed as using the drug to raise lean, large turkeys, that group includes the fourth-largest producer, Farbest, and household name Kraft.

Here is a chart summarizing the results of the survey:

I didn’t really take the idea of car emergency kits seriously until I bought a neighbor’s old car, and discovered the wealth of supplies for various emergencies that he had left in the trunk and console. Gloves for changing the tire? Check. Can of Fix-A-Flat for Urgent tire emergencies? Check. Disposable camera in case of an accident? Check. (This was before camera phones were popular.) What else should emergency kits for the discerning and slightly paranoid motorist contain?

Our safety-minded colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports have some ideas about what you should keep on your car. Even if you only drive in well-populated areas, some of these items could still be very handy.

A first-aid kit: Carry treatments for a few basic injuries and illnesses, and make sure you know how to use everything inside.

A fire extinguisher: Also make sure you know how this works before an actual emergency happens.

Tire-changing or fixing equipment: If your car doesn’t have a spare tire, as many newer vehicles don’t, learn how to use the equipment you have.

What about winter-specific items if you live in an area that’s cold or snowy? Consumer Reports suggests stashing extra warm-weather gear like a blanket and extra hat in your trunk, as well as a hardcore ice scraper, bag of kitty litter for extra traction, and tire chains if you know how to use them.

What to Pack in a Car Emergency Kit for Your Holiday Road Trips [Consumer Reports]

A Virginia mayor apologized Friday for invoking the mass detention of Japanese-Americans during World War II in comments about keeping Syrian refugees out of the region.

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers called his comments “unwise and inappropriate” and said he plans to continue in office despite calls for him to resign.

In a statement Wednesday, Bowers cited the government’s internment of Japanese-Americans. He said the threat to the United States from the Islamic State group “is just as real and serious as that from our enemies then.”

The U.S. government issued a formal apology more than four decades after World War II and paid reparations to former Japanese internees and their heirs.

At a special City Council meeting Friday, Bowers said the comparison was “a mistake.” He apologized specifically to Japanese-Americans.

“It’s just not in my heart to be racist or bigoted,” Bowers said. “My statement was intended to be respectful, measured and moderate in tone and substance. But it fell short obviously.”

Bill Bestpitch and other council members criticized Bowers for using his office letterhead to issue Wednesday’s statement. Councilman Ray Ferris, who called the special meeting, said the council received the letter two hours after it was reported in the media.

“I think the press release demonstrates a lack of full understanding of some of the things that we have suffered in this country and certainly the things that were suffered by the Americans of Japanese descent back in World War II,” Ferris said. “And that really seems to have been what has ignited this and started the ball rolling.”

Two dozen members of the public later spoke at the meeting. Some called for Bowers to resign.

“Apologizing, while I appreciate it and I believe it is heartfelt, I feel that it is not enough,” Jacob Smith said. “Apologizing is not taking responsibility. Action is taking responsibility.”

Bowers’ comments Wednesday came in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks and the Oct. 31 bombing of a Russian airliner. They were part of his call to ask government and non-governmental agencies to suspend relocating Syrian refugees to the area. Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Individual states do not have the legal authority to block refugee placement.

The post Virginia mayor apologizes for refugee, detention comments appeared first on WTOP.

Arlington County officials have reportedly shut down a popular fenced-in “dog run” outside of a Rosslyn apartment community.

In a memo to residents of the Rosslyn Heights and Rosslyn Vue apartments on N. Quinn Street, building managers say that they’ve been ordered to remove the fence around the dog area.

The decision, managers say in the memo, came from new Arlington Acting Zoning Administrator Arlova Vonhm, who decreed that a permit for building the fence around the nearly two-year-old dog walk should never have been approved by the county.

Jace Bauer, a local resident, said that the dog walk is “convenient and much enjoyed.” Via email, Bauer said the loss of the area is a blow for residents and for dogs.

“I recently moved to Arlington and have found this small, fenced in area to be a great spot in our community,” Bauer said. “I have met so many wonderful people in my first few months here while taking my one year old border collie mix out for a game of fetch. The nearest dog park (Clarendon) is a 30 minute walk, which is not practical for a quick morning or evening outing.”

The memo from building management, which suggests legal action may follow, is below.

Dear Residents of Rosslyn Heights and Rosslyn Vue,

A few months ago Arlington County received a complaint from our neighbors regarding the dog walk area by the leasing office. We have been attempting to work with Arlington County Zoning officials to comply with their requirements and appease our neighbors. Although this area has existed for almost two years, the Zoning Administrator, Ms. Arlova Vonhm, has decreed that the approved permit should not have been approved. Her decision is that the fence violates Arlington County Zoning ordinance and must be removed or we will be subject to fines and legal action for noncompliance. Ms. Vonhm has also been presented with multiple plans to relocate the dog walk to other areas of our property, all of which have been denied.

As such, tomorrow, November 20th, we will be removing the fence to comply with their order. Rosslyn Heights and Rosslyn Vue have always been pet loving communities and it gives us great displeasure to have to do this. Please take some comfort that we do not consider this matter closed. We will be obtaining legal counsel to bring this issue to the attention of the Arlington County Board (http://countyboard.arlingtonva.us/county-board-members) and County Manager, Mark Schwartz.

The next scheduled Arlington County Board Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, January 24th at 8:30am at 2100 Clarendon Blvd., Room 307.

Thank you for choosing Rosslyn Heights and Rosslyn Vue as your home and for your patience and understanding as we work through this situation.

Sincerely,

Rosslyn Heights Team

Photo courtesy Jace Bauer

The post Memo: Arlington County Is Shutting Down Apartment’s Dog Run appeared first on WTOP.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A Baltimore police officer who slit a dog’s throat while trying to restrain it was cleared of all charges stemming from the canine’s death.

Jeffrey Bolger, a retired 20-year veteran of the department, was acquitted on Wednesday after a judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to convict.

Bolger faced animal cruelty and misconduct in office charges stemming from the June 14 incident when Bolger cut a seven-year-old Shar Pei’s throat while trying to restrain the dog. The dog had previously bitten a pregnant woman, and Bolger and another officer involved in the incident thought the dog was dangerous.

Prosecutors argued that Bolger’s actions were cruel and inhumane. Bolger had said he thought the dog had strangled itself on the dog pole, and he was trying to spare it additional pain.

The post Baltimore officer accused of cutting dog’s throat acquitted appeared first on WTOP.

Editor’s Note: Healthy Paws is a column sponsored and written by the owners of Clarendon Animal Care, a full-service, general practice veterinary clinic. The clinic is located 3000 10th Street N., Suite B. and can be reached at 703-997-9776.

As the final topic in our series on pet food labels, we’ll address perhaps the least exciting but most confusing aspect of the food label: the guaranteed analysis.

“Guaranteed Analysis” is the pet food industry’s equivalent of the Nutritional Facts box we are so used to seeing on our own products. The four main ingredients listed are crude protein, fat, fiber, and moisture. Many cat foods will also list the maximum percentage of the mineral component “ash,” as well as taurine and magnesium, and some dog foods will also list various electrolytes.

Guaranteed analyses are listed on an “AS FED” basis, meaning the actual amount in the product. This is not that relevant when comparing one dry food to another dry food; however, when comparing a dry food to a canned food there will be significant differences in any of these levels due to the moisture difference.

For example, the percentage protein on a canned diet may be 12 percent, but on a dry food basis is 29 percent. Initially, it seems that the dry food has more protein; however, once the 75 percent moisture of the canned food it taken into account it is clear that the canned food actually has higher protein levels. To best compare levels of nutrients, it is necessary to convert to “DRY MATTER BASIS,” meaning that all the moisture in the diet is taken into consideration.

In simplified terms, most dry foods have 10 percent moisture (90 percent dry matter), and most canned foods have 75 percent moisture (25 percent dry matter).  In order to determine the amount of protein/fat/etc. on a dry matter basis, divide the amount of nutrient  by the amount of dry matter (i.e. label shows a guaranteed analysis of 25 percent protein and 10 percent moisture (90 percent dry matter), meaning the actual dry matter protein is 0.25/0.9 = 28 percent protein; versus a canned food label showing 10 percent protein and 75 percent moisture, which would be 0.1/0.25 = 40 percent protein.

But, rather than straining your brain with a lot of math while you’re perusing the overwhelming number of foods at the pet store, just remember that the amount of dry matter in dry foods is about four times that in canned foods. So, you can easily compare the dry matter between foods by multiplying the canned food values by four.

In addition to the guaranteed analysis, “as fed” and “dry matter basis” come into play in the ingredient list as well, which we touched on in an earlier post. Ingredients are listed by weight. However, moisture can make a significant difference in the weight of a particular ingredient. For example, as the FDA website points out:

“For example, one pet food may list ‘meat’ as its first ingredient and ‘corn’ as the second ingredient. The manufacturer doesn’t hesitate to point out that its competitor lists ‘corn’ first (‘meat meal’ is second), suggesting the competitor’s product has less animal-source protein than its own. However, meat is very high in moisture (approximately 75 percent water). On the other hand, water and fat are removed from meat meal, so it is only 10 percent moisture (what’s left is mostly protein and minerals). If we could compare both products on a dry matter basis (mathematically ‘remove’ the water from both ingredients), one could see that the second product had more animal-source protein from meat meal than the first product had from meat, even though the ingredient list suggests otherwise.”

Thus, it is important to take into account not only percentages but the formulation of the diet when comparing labels and evaluating the ingredient list.

When it comes to pet foods, we have to address feeding human food as food labels, guaranteed analysis, etc. all kind of get thrown out the window. We don’t recommend ‘winging it’ with your pet’s nutrition — they’re truly not small humans. If you’re wanting to cook your pet a diet, we strongly recommend working with a veterinary nutritionist (such as the nutrition service provided by the veterinary teaching hospital at Virginia Tech or BalanceIT) to make sure it is balanced and complete and that any illness or disease process is being considered in the diet as well.

Along the lines of human food, feeding table scraps are a good way to end up with a fat pet and also can increase their risk of GI upset. As we approach Thanksgiving, it is very common to see an increase in cases of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) as holidays tend to be a time when pets are especially likely to be getting extra treats from family members and visitors and also more likely to get into stuff when we’re distracted.

Most human food is too rich or too high in fat for most pets. We strongly recommend being strict with the table scraps, keeping food away from counter-surfing canines (and felines too!) and trash cans inaccessible to the rummaging furry family — which will lead to a happier and healthier holiday for all!

The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

The post Healthy Paws: Guaranteed Analysis, Homemade Diets and Thanksgiving appeared first on WTOP.

To make consumers want a gadget and not-so-subtly hint that they would really like that item as a gift this year, that gift has to be very innovative. Since what’s on the market are simply upgraded versions of the items that people already have, there aren’t any hot technology items like the Great Netbook Craze of half a decade ago. That’s why big-box tech stores are predicting sort of a glum holiday season.

This prediction comes from weak results for the last quarter that Best Buy announced today, and they pointed out some trends that aren’t so promising for the coming year. Consumers seem more interested in large smartphones than small tablets, for example. While interest in newer products like 4K televisions and smartwatches are growing, they’re still both expensive product categories that aren’t cheap and useful enough to appeal to the masses yet.

The slowdown in technology isn’t just affecting Best Buy: Walmart and Target are also popular places to buy technology gifts, and so are office-supply stores. Leaders from the two national discount chains say that they don’t predict very strong sales in their own electronics department, either.

“There hasn’t been as much innovation in tech over the last year or two,” the Chief Financial Officer of Walmart told Bloomberg Businessweek. “There are different versions of tablets, but nothing like when the iPhone or iPad came out.” (Well, if any retailer knows something about outdated technology, it’s Walmart.)

Best Buy Shows Electronics Aren’t Going to Save Christmas Either [Bloomberg Business]

If you’re still searching for the purr-fect gift for your grandparents (or other elderly loved ones) and think they might enjoy a little four-legged company, without the hassle of scooping kitty litter, then you might be the perfect candidate for Hasbro’s new line of “companion pets.” 

Yes, you read that right, the toy company’s latest foray just so happens to be in mechanical feline companions: the “Joy For All” cats look, feel and sound like the real thing, Mashable reports.

The life-like toy cat includes built-in sensors that respond to motion and touch. That means if you, say, scratch under the animal’s chin, it’ll respond by nuzzling your hand, or if you simply leave it alone, it’ll take a catnap. The one thing it doesn’t do is walk, however, so don’t expect Mr. Whiskers to come running when you call.

“Joy for All Companion Pet cats are designed to bring comfort, companionship and fun for your elder loved ones,” Hasbro says on the product’s website. “With realistic fur, purrs and meows – and sensors that respond to petting and hugs with familiar, cat-like actions – Companion Pets deliver a soothing, joyful experience that inspires smiles, laughter and fond memories.”

The line, which retails for about $100 per animal, isn’t the first robotic pet to hit the market. But unlike brands like Perfect Petzzz and Tekno, the Hasbro version isn’t marketed just for kids, it’s for animal lovers of all ages, Mashable reports.

“We believe that the power of play can bring joy to people at all stages of life, and we’ve heard from our friends, fans, and consumers that some of our toys and games are especially appealing to seniors and enhance meaningful interactions with their loved ones,” the company says.

Hasbro’s new robotic cats are ‘companion pets’ for the elderly [Mashable]

Washington Post

Here's a question: Why are cherry blossoms blooming on the National Mall today? Washington Post This is weird. A cherry tree is blooming beautiful pink flowers on the National Mall today, seemingly out of season. Ned Wharton, the senior producer for NPR's Weekend Edition, tweeted us this well-composed photo of the tree in question and the ...

If you come across an aggressive or dangerous dog you need to stay safe and report the dog to the proper authorities. Taking the right steps in this kind of incident should be done for the dog's sake, as well as for you and your community's well-being. Here's how to deal with and report a dangerous dog.

Steps

Assessing the Situation and Staying Safe

1. Keep yourself safe. If you come across an aggressive dog, particularly an unattended stray, the best thing to do is to slowly back away from it before you get too close. Aggressive dogs do not like you to enter their area, so don't be tempted to try to calm it down by moving towards it.
   
   • If you run, the dog may go after you and attack. Keep calm, avoid strong eye contact, and do not enter their space.^[1]
   • Be sure that you don't stop backing away from an aggressive dog until you are a safe distance away. Once you are far enough away, turn and walk away.
   • Don't assume that a dog is aggressive purely due to its breed. Aggressiveness is most often due to training, or lack of training, or abuse, not due to ingrained attributes of a breed.^[2]
2. Defend yourself if you are actively being attacked. Protect your face and other sensitive areas of your body such as your neck and chest.^[3] If you are on the ground try to curl up in a ball and wrap your hands around the back of your neck to protect it.^[4]
   
   • Try to get the dog to attack something other than your body. If you have a sweater or a bag, try to get the dog to attack that instead.^[5]
3. Warn others you come across that there is an aggressive dog in the area. This is especially important if you see children walking in the direction of the dog.
   

Reporting the Dog to the Proper Authorities

1. Call the Emergency Services, or your local emergency number, if you or someone else is in danger. If a person is being attacked, they will probably need medical attention. The police will also need to assess the situation if the attack is severe enough.
   
   • This does not mean that you should call the Emergency Services if you are nipped or barked at by a dog. However, you should call the police if you, or someone else, is experiencing severe physical harm. In some cases dog attacks can be very serious and cause injury or death.
   • If you have been bitten but are in no danger of further immediate injury you may want to call your local non-emergency police number. They can connect you to the police unit that deals with crimes involving animals, if there is one in your area.^[6]
2. Locate the number for your local animal shelter or humane society if the dog is being aggressive. You can find this number by searching in your telephone book, online, or by calling local directory assistance.
   
   • Your community may also have an animal control department. If you have one, and the dog is severely aggressive, it may be best to find their number. They may be able to get to the scene more quickly than animal shelter or humane society personnel.
   • If you are in a rural area you may need to get the number of the sheriff, as other options may not be available.^[7]
   • If you're a child, tell an adult right away so that they can make the call.
3. Call and make your report. Be prepared to describe the dog's physical characteristics and location. You may be asked for your phone number as well, so that responders can call you for more details. The authorities on the phone should tell you what to do next and those responding will take care of the dog as quickly, and humanely, as they can.
   
   • Report the dog as soon as possible so that the animal control authorities can locate it before it gets far from where you saw it.
4. Stay on the line if requested. It may be the case that the animal is traveling away from the location you reported. While your first priority should be your own safety, it may be helpful for you to keep an eye on where the dog is going, especially if it traveling quickly.
   

Warnings

• Stray dogs can carry fleas and diseases. Be careful about handling them, whether they seem particularly dangerous or not.
• If the dog seems dangerous, make your own safety your number one concern. Don't approach it.

Related wikiHows

• How to Handle a Dog Attack
• How to Protect Yourself from Dogs While Walking
• How to Take Care of a Dog That Is Dangerous

Sources and Citations

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It’s a very fortunate thing that Vitamin Shoppe isn’t open at 3:20 in the morning, after someone driving a stolen school bus crashed through the front of a Pennsylvania location, ending up completely inside the store.

Police arrived on the scene after the business’ alarm was tripped, reports KDKA in Pittsburgh, and found the bus abandoned inside the store. The back of the bus was open, while the front door remained locked.

“He had enough force to move the bus all the way into the building,” the local police chief said. “With the assistance of neighboring departments we did a K-9 track, obviously there was no one on the bus. And it came up negative with any kind of suspects.”

The company that owns the bus says it was out of service, awaiting an inspection in a garage that sits in a fenced and locked lot. Whoever stole the bus had to drive through the fence to get away with it.

The Vitamin Shoppe was severely damaged, but police don’t think the crash was an attempted robbery.

Police do have a few sources for possible leads: camera footage from the school bus’ surveillance system, which turns on automatically when the vehicle starts up and GPS records that could provide insight into the bus’ journey to the center of the Vitamin Shoppe.

Stolen School Bus Slams Into Vitamin Shoppe In Monroeville [KDKA]

Whether you’re strolling down the supermarket aisle or perusing online grocers’ offerings ahead of Thanksgiving, you’re bound to see turkeys with a wide range of labels: “young,” “fresh,” “premium” and other distinctions that you may think you understand… but you probably don’t.

If you’re picky about what you eat, knowing what the labels mean can make a big difference — for example, just because a turkey is labeled “fresh,” that doesn’t mean it was slaughtered on the farm this morning and trucked down the street to the grocery store.

Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have explained the various labels in the past you may come across, as well as other outlets like NPR’s The Salt blog, which we also referenced for guidance.

Once you’ve settled on a size for your holiday bird, the guide below will be helpful in making your final choice:

Fresh: Again, this bird was not hanging out on the farm with his bros this morning, it just means the turkey has never been below 26°F. This label could also be, “Never Frozen.”

Frozen: Speaks for itself, mostly. This means poultry was held at 0°F or below. “Previously frozen” may also be used to mean the same thing.

Free-range: Was your turkey running free on the plains? Maybe, or maybe not. This label means that an animal has spent a good portion of its life outdoors. But in order to gain that distinction, the U.S. Department of Agriculture only requires that outdoor access be made available for “an undetermined period each day.” Four hours a day? Perhaps. Five minutes? Could be.

Organic: Food has to be produced without most conventional pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and without antibiotics, growth hormones, genetic engineering, or irradiation to earn this label, and animals had to have had access to the outdoors. A diet of organic feed free of animal byproducts is also required. Our siblings over at Consumer Reports recommend buying organic because of that absence of antibiotics.

No hormones administered: Beware this label — its claim means nothing, considering hormones are already prohibited in poultry production. That’s like a label saying, “This Turkey Is Not A Cow.”

No antibiotics administered: This means exactly what it says. There’s no verification system in place, but the USDA is accountable for proper use of the claim.

Natural: Consumer Reports takes issue with this label, which means that the turkey doesn’t contain any artificial flavoring, colors, chemical preservatives, or synthetic ingredients. The label is not a verified claim, and says nothing about whether the animal ate a natural diet or how it was raised. Because there’s no government definition for the word, the claim is based on the processor’s word alone.

Cage-Free: No turkeys are raised in cages — more than 95% of all commercial turkeys live in open houses, according to the ASPCA. So again, this is basically a meaningless label.

Young: This bird is not the poultry equivalent of veal — it just means that it was killed at the same age as most other turkeys, which is between 16 and 18 weeks. There’s no USDA definition for “young” turkeys, but if a turkey is older than a year when it’s slaughtered, it must be labeled “yearling” or “mature.”

Premium: Is this the best meat around? Again, the label is pretty much worthless. Any company can choose to call their birds “premium.”

Heritage breed: You’ll find this label on traditional animal breeds, which are raised to support biodiversity. They’re relatively pricey and hard to come by, but you can order heritage breeds online.

Shopping for a turkey? Here’s how to read the labels [Consumer Reports]
Premium, Young And Natural: The Turkey Labels We Cluck-Cluck Over [The Salt]

When a product is recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it becomes illegal for a retailer to continue to sell that item. But Home Depot apparently wasn’t following that rule for the past three years, selling 28 different products after they were recalled. 

The CPSC and Home Depot issued a warning on Wednesday that about 2,310 items – ranging from fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, power strips, vacuums, washing machines and portable generators – may have made their way into consumers’ homes despite being recalled between 2012 and 2015.

About 1,300 of the recalled items were sold by Home Depot, while another 1,010 were sent to salvagers or recyclers who could have sold them to consumers, the CPSC says.

The recalls were initiated for a variety of reasons, including fire risk, electrical shock hazards, increased risk of burns or injuries and failure to alert people of dangerous carbon dioxide levels, among other things.

The commission advises consumers who may have purchased one of the recalled products to stop using the item immediately “and contact the recalling firms to receive the remedies listed in the recall, which is either a refund, replacement or repair.”

It’s unclear whether or not Home Depot will face a fine for continuing to sell recalled products. In Sept. 2014, the CPSC announced that Michigan-based retailer Meijer agreed to pay a $2 million civil penalty to settle charges it distributed recalled items, many of which were children’s products.

CE Tech 1,000 Ft. Riser Cable
Recall Date: April 9, 2013
Original Sale Dates: Jan. 2013 through Feb. 2013
Hazard: The riser cable does not meet fire resistance standards for riser cable, posing a fire hazard.
Contact: Home Depot at 800-394-7519, or online at http://www.homedepot.com and click on Product Recalls for more information.

Cordelia Two-Lamp Fluorescent Shop Lights
Recall Date: May 22, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2013 through March 2014
Hazard: The lamp sockets can allow loose connections, posing a risk of an electrical arc and fire.
Contact: Cordelia Lighting at 800-345-0542, extension 3001.

Easy Reach by Gorilla Ladders 3-Step Pro Series Step Stools
Recall Date: Oct. 25, 2012
Original Sale Dates: April 2012 through Aug. 2012
Hazard: The top step/standing platform can break, posing a fall hazard to consumers.
Contact: Tricam Industries toll-free at 855-336-0360, or http://www.gorillaladders.net, then click on Recall for more information.

Fiskars Bypass Lopper Shears
Recall Date: Oct. 8, 2014
Original Sale Dates: May 2011 through June 2014
Hazard: The lopper handles can break when attempting to cut branches, posing a risk of serious injury and laceration.
Contact: Fiskars toll-free at 855-544-0151 or visit Fiskars’ website at http://www.fiskars.com and click on “Product Notifications” for more information.

Genie Garage Door Openers
Recall Date: February 25, 2014
Original Sales Dates: Aug. 2011 through Oct. 2012
Hazard: The control board can overheat, posing a fire hazard.
Contact: Genie toll-free at (800) 488-9918, or online at http://www.geniecompany.com and click on “Recall Information” for more information.

Harris Products Group and Lincoln Electric Welding Torch Handles
Recall Date: July 31, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Dec. 2013 through May 2014
Hazard: The torch handles can leak oxygen or fuel, posing a fire hazard.
Contact: Harris Products Group at 800-447-6906, or online at http://www.harrisproductsgroup.com and click on Recall for more information.

HeathCo Motion-Activated Outdoor Lights
Recall Date: Oct. 30, 2013
Original Sale Dates: Dec. 2006 through July 2013
Hazard: The internal fixture wiring can energize the entire surface and fittings of the fixture, posing an electrical shock hazard.
Contact: HeathCo toll-free 855-704-5438, email hzproductnotice@heathcollc.com or online at http://www.heath-zenith.com and click on Recall Announcements at the bottom of the page for more information.

Homelite Electric Blower Vacuums
Recall Date: Feb. 21, 2013
Original Sale Dates: Feb. 2012 through Dec. 2012
Hazard: Objects that are drawn into the unit during vacuum mode can break through the plastic housing, posing a laceration hazard.
Contact: Homelite Consumer Products at 800-597-9624, or online at http://www.homelite.com and click on Safety Notices for more information.

Homelite Electric Blower Vacuums
Recall Date: April 16, 2015
Original Sale Dates: Jan. 2010 through March 2015
Hazard: The blower vacuum can overheat, spark and catch on fire, posing fire and burn hazards.
Contact: Homelite Consumer Products at 800-597-9624, or online at http://www.homelite.com and click on Safety Notices for more information.

Kidde Disposable Plastic Fire Extinguishers
Recall Date: Feb. 12, 2015
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2013 through Nov. 2014
Hazard: A faulty valve component can cause the disposable fire extinguishers not to fully discharge when the lever is repeatedly pressed and released during a fire emergency, posing a risk of injury.
Contact: Kidde toll-free at 855-283-7991, or online at http://www.kidde.com and click on Safety Notice for more information.

Kidde Smoke and Combination Smoke/CO Alarms
Recall Date: Sept. 11, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Jan. 2014 through July 2014
Hazard: The alarms could fail to alert consumers of a fire or a CO incident following a power outage.
Contact: Kidde toll-free at 844-553-9011, or online at http://www.kidde.com and click on Recalls for more information.

Legrand Under-Cabinet Power Strips
Recall Date: Sept.r 6, 2012
Original Sale Dates: Feb. 2011 to Aug.2012
Hazard: The electrical wires are reversed on the receptacles on the power strips, posing a risk of electrical shock.
Contact: Legrand Wiremold toll-free at 800-617-1768, or at http://www.legrand.us/product-recalls.aspx for more information.

Legrand Under-Cabinet Power Strips
Recall Date: May 15, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Feb. 2011 to April 2014
Hazard: The internal electrical connections of the power strips are substandard, posing risks of overheating and fire.
Contact: Legrand Wiremold toll-free at (855) 692-4620, or at http://www.legrand.us/product-recalls.aspx for more information.

LG Electric Ranges
Recall Date: Nov. 8, 2012
Original Sale Dates: Jan. 2006 to June 2010
Hazard: Burners on the electric ranges can fail to turn off after being switched off and the temperature setting can increase unexpectedly during use, posing burn and fire hazards to consumers.
Contact: LG toll-free at (855) 400-4638, or http://www.lg.com/us and click on Public Notices for more information.

LG Top-Loading Washing Machines
Recall Date: Dec. 18, 2012
Original Sale Dates: April 2010 to Dec. 2012
Hazard: An unbalanced load can cause the washing machine to shake excessively and the drum to come loose during use, posing a risk of injury to consumers and property damage to the surrounding area.
Contact: LG toll-free at (855) 400-4639, or http://www.lg.com/us and click on Public Notices for more information.

Lithonia Quantum® ELM and ELM2 Two-Light Emergency Lighting Fixtures
Recall Date: May 28, 2014
Original Sale Dates: March 2010 through Feb. 2014
Hazard: The circuit board can overheat and cause the fixture to melt, catch fire and ignite nearby items, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.
Contact: Lithonia Lighting toll-free at 888-615-4501, or online at http://www.lithonia.com and click on “Quantum® ELM/ELM2 Recall Information” on the bottom of the page for more information.

MAT Industries HDX™ and Powermate® Two-Gallon Air Compressors
Recall Date: Feb. 12, 2014
Original Sale Dates: June 2010 through Oct. 2013
Hazard: The terminals of the pressure switch can come into contact with the motor housing and electrify the air compressors, posing a shock hazard to consumers.
Contact: MAT Industries toll-free at 855-922-2300, or online at http://www.homedepot.com and click on Product Recalls for more information or at http://www.powermate.com and click on Air Compressors, then VSP0000201.

Mohawk Altitude Gold Shag Rugs
Recall Date: Nov. 19, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2013 through Sept. 2014
Hazard: The large rugs fail to meet federal standards for flammability and could ignite, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers. The small rugs fail to meet federal labeling requirements.
Contact: Mohawk toll-free at 877-737-8343, or online at http://www.mohawkflooring.com and click on “Safety Recall” in the “Customer Care” section at the bottom of the page.

Nest Protect Smoke + CO Alarms
Recall Date: May 21, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Nov.15, 2013 to April 3, 2014
Hazard: Activity near the product during a fire can prevent the alarm from immediately sounding when the Nest Wave feature is enabled.
Contact: Nest Labs at 800-249-4280, or online at http://www.nest.com and click on Nest Protect Safety Notice for more information.

Nourison I-CANDI Collection Polyester Shag Rugs
Recall Date: May 23, 2013
Original Sale Dates: Sept. 2012
Hazard: The rugs fail to meet federal flammability standards, posing a fire hazard to consumers.
Contact: Nourison at 800-223-1110 ext. 2358, or online at http://www.nourison.com, then click on Recall Information at the bottom of the page for more information.

Pramac America Powermate Sx 5500 Portable Generators
Recall Date: Nov. 13, 2012
Original Sale Dates: Feb. 2012 through Aug. 2012
Hazard: The fuel filter on this generator allows gasoline to leak, posing a fire hazard.
Contact: Pramac America LLC at 800-445-1805, or http://www.powermate.com and click on the Generator tab and then the Expert Advice followed by the Service Notification link for more information.

RSI Glacier Bay® Bathroom Medicine Cabinets
Recall Date: Jan.16, 2014
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2013 through Oct. 2013
Hazard: The mirror or its back panel can separate and fall out, posing an injury hazard to consumers.
Contact: RSI toll-free at 888-774-8062, online at http://www.homedepot.com and click on Product Recalls or e-mail RSIMedCab@rsihomeproducts.com for more information.

Soleil Portable Fan Heaters
Recall Date: July 25, 2013
Original Sale Dates: Sept. 2012 through May 2013
Hazard: The portable fans plastic housing can melt, deform and catch fire during use, posing a fire hazard.
Contact: Home Depot toll-free at 877-527-0313, or online at http://www.homedepot.com and click on Product Recalls for more information.

SoleusAir Dehumidifiers by Gree Electric Appliances
Recall Date: May 15, 2014
Original Sales Dates: Jan. 2005 through Aug. 2013
Hazard: The dehumidifiers can overheat, smoke and catch fire, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.
Contact: Gree toll-free at (866) 853-2802, or online at http://www.greeusa.com and click on Recall for more information.

Vornado Air Electric Space Heaters
Recall Date: Aug. 14, 2014
Original Sale Dates: June 2013 through May 2014
Hazard: The heater can overheat and cause the units to melt, catch fire and ignite nearby items, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.
Contact: Vornado toll-free at 844-205-7978, or online at http://www.vornado.com and click on the recall graphic in the lower right corner of the homepage for more information.

Waterloo Industries Husky® Securelock Vertical Bike Hooks
Recall Date: April 15, 2015
Original Sale Dates: April 2011 to March 2015
Hazard: The mounted bike hooks can unexpectedly detach, allowing the bike to fall. This poses a risk of injury to bystanders.
Contact: Waterloo Industries at 800-833-8851, or online at http://www.homedepot.com and click on “product recalls” for more information.

Westinghouse Lighting Glass Shade Holders
Recall Date: March 12, 2015
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2014 through Jan. 2015
Hazard: The pull chain switch on the glass shade holder is incorrectly wired, posing a shock hazard to the consumer.
Contact: Westinghouse Lighting toll-free at 888-417-6222, or online at http://www.westinghouselighting.com and click on the safety notice at the top of the page for more information.

Wing Enterprises Switch-It Stepladder/Stepstools
Recall Date: Dec. 11, 2012
Original Sale Dates: Aug. 2012 to Oct. 2012
Hazard: When extended, the inner side rails can separate from the outer side rails causing the user to fall.
Contact: Wing Enterprises Inc. toll-free at 855-595-3378 , or online at http://www.littlegiantladders.com/switch-it-recall for more information.

Diners may choose to use the mobile app from their favorite fast food joint for a number of reasons: to easily customize their meal, to ensure they don’t have to wait in long lines to order, or to get in and out of the joint in a flash. One thing these customers likely don’t count on is having the charges for a month’s worth of app orders cleared on the same day, resulting in an overdrawn bank account through no fault of their own. 

But that’s exactly what Consumerist reader S. says happened last month after he made several trips to his local Minnesota Taco Bell for orders placed through the company’s mobile app.

“I use the Taco Bell app, as it is quite handy, easy to customize my food, a breeze to pickup, and best of all, I don’t have to talk to someone who inevitably gets my order wrong,” S. wrote to Consumerist about his affinity for the fast food company’s app.

But his love affair with TBell came to a screeching halt in late October, when he awoke to find his bank account in the red.

“I had just looked the night before, and had plenty of money in it to cover pending charges, as well as an electronic payment incoming,” he says. “When I called the bank, they said that Taco Bell had charged 13 charges all at once the previous night, making my account go negative.”

Even though S. loves Taco Bell, he assures us he didn’t sleep-drive to the restaurant and place 13 separate orders.

Instead, he says a look at his account with the restaurant showed the company’s mobile payment processor never actually charged him for the previous orders placed through their mobile app.

“The pre-authorized charges were falling off my account without me noticing,” he says. “This represented an entire month’s worth of food. Needless to say this left me in quite a bind.”

In all, S. says he incurred $210 in overdraft fees directly related to $124.35 in orders that processed at the same time, meaning his account unexpectedly dropped $334.35 in a matter of a few hours.

“I know that I am partially at fault here, but even if I was mostly diligent with keeping track of these purchases, I still doubt I would have noticed an $8 purchase falling off my account because the processor didn’t actually charge it,” he says.

S. told us that attempts to contact both Taco Bell and the local franchisee by phone, email and Twitter appeared to be fruitless.

“I didn’t hear anything for a week…and their response was basically, tough titty,” he says. “‘Your fault, not ours’… The district manager even said to me over the phone, ‘well, you had extra use of the money for that period of time.'”

Consumerist reached out to Taco Bell on behalf of S. and the company quickly jumped into action to remedy the situation.

A member of the company’s Mobile App team reached out to S., refunding all the purchases that were charged and providing him a $50 gift card for his troubles.

While the company wasn’t able to do anything about the overdraft fees, S. tells us that his bank reversed the charges after the Taco Bell debits were reversed.

“I am happy with the outcome, but I really wish it hadn’t taken so long and required so much effort on my part to get it resolved,” he says. “From what I was told, I was not the only person affected in the area…several other people had the same issue, although not nearly as bad as mine.”

In fact, a team member told S. the issue was related to an upgrade of the company’s Mobile App system that resulted in all dormant charges going through at once. Still, the company didn’t provide him with a reason for why the charges were sitting there in the first place.

An earlier look at Taco Bell’s Terms of Use indicates that customers are charged at the time of purchase and that users are responsible for these transactions.

Our colleagues at Consumers Union say the terms are likely enough to keep the customer on the hook for the cost of the transactions, but that a month to process them seems outrageous.

When reached for comment, a rep for Taco Bell tells Consumerist that S.’s situation was a “one-off, isolated issue,” and further questions about the purported system upgrade were not returned.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a fast food company processing a huge dump of payments all at once. In 2014, we told you about an Arby’s customer who saw six months’ worth of purchases charged to his account at once.

So what’s the moral of S.’s story? A few things, according to our Consumers Union colleagues: Always be vigilant about checking your bank accounts to make sure charges are going through correctly and be cognizant of your bank’s overdraft policies.

A Walmart worker whose job it was to clean up the store’s parking lot says he was fired for collecting more than errant shopping carts and trash left by customers: after redeeming cans he found on the job for $5.10 in cash, he says he lost his job for theft of Walmart property.

The 52-year-old New York man says he wasn’t aware of the rule against redeeming empty bottles and cans at the store. After turning in the empties for cash, he says he was called into the security office and interrogated by a manager and two security staff members.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t take empties left behind. They were garbage,” he told the Albany Times Union [warning: link contains video that autoplays]. “I didn’t even get a chance to explain myself. They told me to turn in my badge.”

The store’s manager asked him to repay the $5.10, he says, but he didn’t have any cash on him so he took a one-hour bus ride home and paid the manager back a few days later.

“We can’t comment on human resource matters,” a spokesman at Walmart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark told the Times Union, adding that the man was fired after an internal investigation and human resource review, but declined to elaborate.

He’s since contacted prisoner advocate Alice Green at the Center for Law and Justice in Albany, as he’s on parole after being release from prison in May. Green says she took up the man’s case after he alleged racial discrimination on the job: the worker, who is African-American, says the manager told him during his interrogation that a white cashier was caught on camera stealing $20 from a cash register and stuffing it into her bra. She paid the money back and wasn’t fired because she has five kids, according to the worker’s story.

“It raised issues of race and gender,” Green said. She and an attorney have tried to contact Walmart managers to get the man reinstated to his job, with no results so far.

The man says he’s now worried about being able to buy Christmas presents for his two teenage kids.

“This is an injustice,” he said. “I was done dirty.”

Walmart fires East Greenbush employee for redeeming $5.10 of cans left in parking lot [Albany Times Union]

While genetically modified agricultural products have been used in the U.S. for quite some time, the Food and Drug Administration had yet to approve the food use of any genetically engineered (GE) animals — until today. This morning, the agency announced the approval of an application for a salmon engineered to grow to market size faster than other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

The FDA has declared AquAdvantage Salmon “safe to eat,” noting that testing of the fish “demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth.”

According to the FDA, the GE salmon shows “no biologically relevant differences” in its nutritional profile compared to other non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

The agency also considered the possibility that these GE salmon could end up mixing with other salmon and determined that the AquAdvanatage salmon farms in Panama and Canada “make it extremely unlikely that the fish could escape and establish themselves in the wild.”

There are multiple physical barriers to prevent AquAdvantage fish or their eggs from slipping out through these farms’ plumbing systems. If a fish were to escape or be otherwise introduced into other salmon population, the FDA says it would not matter because the AquAdvantage Salmon are reproductively sterile.

Today’s approval will not allow AquAdantage salmon to be raised in the U.S. Only the facilities explicitly included in the approval can provide these GE fish for sale in America.

Though the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) gives the FDA the authority to require mandatory labeling of foods if there is a material difference between a GE product and its conventional counterpart, the agency says it is not requiring labeling of these GE fish “Because the data and information evaluated show that AquAdvantage Salmon is not materially different from other Atlantic salmon.”

Instead, the FDA says that it will be up to the sellers of these fish to voluntarily decide whether they choose to label their product as GE.

Genetically engineered animals fall under the FDA’s regulatory umbrella because the recombinant DNA (rDNA) introduced into the animals meets the legal definition of a drug.

In this case, the GE salmon use an rDNA construct composed of the growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon under the control of a promoter from another type of fish called an “ocean pout.” According to the FDA, this tweak to the DNA allows the salmon to grow to market size faster than non-GE farm-raised salmon.

Are you one of those jetsetters who revels in the feel of your overstuffed passport, brimming with extra pages you’ve added that are stamped with all the far-flung destinations you’ve visited? If you’re a U.S. citizen and and don’t have any more room in that thing, you’ll have to get a new passport, because the government isn’t going to sell extra page inserts anymore in the new year.

Starting Jan. 1, the U.S. State Department is eliminating the 24-page inserts that Americans can buy when their passports fill up. The decision was made “to enhance the security of the passport and to abide by international passport standards,” the department said in announcing the change.

If you do have to buy a new passport, you’ll have the option of either a 28-page or 52-page book, so if you plan on traveling a ton before it expires, at least you’ll have some space for all those stamps. The department says it’s offered the larger passport at no additional cost to all applicants living outside the U.S. since October 2014.

You’ve got through the end of the year to request extra pages, and again, for those frequent travelers, be advised that it costs the same price ($82) to add one 24-page insert pack as it does to get two of those same insert packages.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson doesn’t want to hear customers’ suggestions, referring customer mail containing actual suggestions to his legal team. That’s fair, we suppose: he wouldn’t want a customer to sue later on if a suggestion became a multimillion-dollar idea. Maybe the secret to getting a nice response to your suggestions from a CEO is simple: you need to be 8 years old.

Reader Laura (no relation) sent along this great series of correspondence between her 8-year-old son Ben and Delta Airlines. Maybe he sent his idea for finding lost planes to every airline he could think of, or maybe he picked only Delta, but he decided to send a letter and picture of his idea for locating airliners lost at sea along to the CEO.

Now, you can debate the validity of the kid’s idea, but he watched a TV program about how a jetliner could disappear, and proposed a solution that’s probably better than any aeronautics ideas that you’ve had lately. The CEO’s office sent his letter and drawing along to the relevant department, and they responded with not just a nice letter, but a package of fabulous Delta Airlines swag.

“He was so excited!” Laura writes. “It’s nice that a busy executive took a few minutes out of his day to help a little boy feel like his ideas are important.”

Boeing, Airbus… if you want to get in line to hire Ben in fifteen years or so, we can put you in touch.

Washington Post

DC police framed man imprisoned 27 years for 1981 murder, US jury finds Washington Post D.C. police violated the civil rights of an innocent man imprisoned for 27 years, making the District liable to pay damages for framing him in a 1981 rape and murder, a federal jury found Wednesday. After hearing seven days of testimony, jurors ... Jury hands win to man who wrongly spent 27 years behind barsWTOP DC Police Framed Man Imprisoned for Nearly 3 Decades for MurderSputnik International all 7 news articles »

I once took my kid to a butterfly terrarium. One of those big ones you can walk through.

But instead of the idyllic, magical experience I had imagined, where my young son would look upon the wonder and beauty of living nature gliding gently past on warm breezes with delicate wings, the experience in his mind was something more like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the point is, if your child is deathly afraid of flying insects, maybe get him one of these Insect Lore Butterfly Garden Gift Sets to ease him into the idea of communing with nature.

 

Butterfly Gift Set
Ideal Temperature:	Order your Cup of Caterpillars when it is warm enough. Ensure that daytime temperatures will be at least 55 degrees Fahrenheit upon release
Voucher Redemption:	Never Expires Enter your code online for your Cup of Caterpillars Shipping is already included (A $7.95 Value!)
Caterpillar Care:	Nutritious Food already included in your cup; you just watch them grow
Butterfly Care:	Use the included feeding pipette and Feeder to supply butterflies with sugar water or nectar Butterflies also love to feed from fresh slices of watermelon and oranges (score the fruit to release the juices) Visit www.insectlore.com for more information or refer to the included Instruction Guide

In the Box:

Insect Lore Butterfly Gift Set includes:

• (1) 14" Tall Reusable Pop-Up Habitat (folds flat when not in use)
• (1) Super clear mesh to enable up close butterfly viewing
• (1) Feeding Pipette
• (1) Caterpillars to Butterflies Instruction Guide
• (1) Pre-paid voucher for 1 cup of caterpillars (5 caterpillars included)
• (1) Wind-up (Styles will vary between Blue Morpho, Monarch, Swallowtail, or Painted Lady)
• (1) Mini-Mag (Color/style will vary between Butterfly, Bee, or Snail)
• (1) Sponge Butterfly Feeder and Yellow Cup Holder